BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 577|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 577
Author: Peace (D) and Rainey (R)
Amended: 8/28/00
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 3/23/99
AYES: Vasconcellos, Burton, Johnston, McPherson, Rainey
NOT VOTING: Polanco
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 1/26/00
AYES: Johnston, Alpert, Bowen, Burton, Escutia, Johnson,
Karnette, Kelley, Leslie, McPherson, Mountjoy, Perata,
Vasconcellos
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 1/31/00 (Consent)
AYES: Alarcon, Alpert, Bowen, Brulte, Burton, Chesbro,
Costa, Dunn, Escutia, Figueroa, Hayden, Haynes, Hughes,
Johannessen, Johnson, Johnston, Karnette, Kelley, Knight,
Leslie, Lewis, McPherson, Monteith, Morrow, Mountjoy,
Murray, O'Connell, Ortiz, Peace, Perata, Polanco,
Poochigian, Rainey, Schiff, Sher, Solis, Speier,
Vasconcellos, Wright
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 8/30/00 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Correctional and Youth Authority peace
officers:
length of basic training
SOURCE : Author
CONTINUED
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DIGEST : This bill requires that the State Department of
Corrections and the State Department of the Youth Authority
to provide 16 weeks of training to each correctional
officer cadet who attends an academy after July 1, 2001,
and, a minimum of 2 weeks of training to each newly
appointed first line supervisor.
Assembly Amendments :
1. Provide specific time frame for training.
2. Delete reference to second line supervisor.
3. Add a July 1, 20901 operative date.
4. Add an urgency clause.
ANALYSIS : Existing law creates the Commission on
Correctional Peace Officers Standards and Training (CPOST),
within the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. CPOST
shall develop, approve and monitor standards for the
selection and training of state correctional peace
officers.
Existing law provides that each new cadet who attends an
academy after July 1, 2000, shall complete the course of
training, pursuant to standards approved by CPOST before he
or she may be assigned to a post or job as a peace officer.
Existing law provides that CPOST shall report to the
Governor and to the appropriate policy and fiscal
committees of the Legislature by September 1, 1999,
concerning the training standards determined for line
correctional peace officers and supervisors of the State
Department of Corrections (DOC) and the State Department of
the Youth Authority (DYA). This report shall include, but
not be limited to, a description of the standards for the
curriculum of the respective academies and the length of
time required to satisfactorily train officers for their
duties. It is the intent that the report be included in
the basis for a new budget change proposal for the
administration to consider in the 2000-01 Budget Act to
enhance department training operations.
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This bill requires that the DOC and the DYA, provide 16
weeks of training to each correctional officer cadet, and a
minimum of two weeks training to each newly appointed first
line supervisor, to be completed prior to the cadet's
assignment to a post or position as a correctional peace
officer. These provisions would apply to any cadet who
attends the Academy after July 1, 2001.
Current Basic Training Requirements for Correctional
Officers
The academy at Galt currently requires six weeks of
training for new correctional officers, two weeks for
first-line supervisors (sergeants), and two weeks for
second-line supervisors (lieutenants). The six-week
program is about 330 hours of training. The academy has
been graduating between 2,000 and 3,000 new officers
annually. The curriculum includes communications,
supervision, ethics, use of force, security/custody,
medical/health and safety, records keeping, physical
training/stress management, etc.
Language Added by AB 271 (1998 )
As introduced, AB 271 required "each new trainee who
attends the academy after July 1, 1998, to complete 9 weeks
of training before he or she may be assigned to a post or
job as a peace officer." That specific length of training
was deleted in the Senate in the last set of amendments
added to this bill before it was sent to the Governor.
This bill, as enacted, provides that:
CPOST shall report to the Governor and to the appropriate
policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by
September 1, 1999, concerning the training standards
determined for line correctional peace officers and
supervisors of DOC and DYA. This report shall include, but
not be limited to, a description of the standards for the
curriculum of the respective academies and the length of
time required to satisfactorily train officers for their
duties. It is the intent of this section that the report
be included in the basis for a new budget change proposal
for the administration to consider in the 2000-01 Budget
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Act to enhance department training operations.
1999-2000 Budget Act Increased Funding for Training
There is $5 million in the DOC item in the proposed
1999-2000 State Budget Act which, while currently not
identified as such, is reportedly going to be the subject
of a DOC Budget Change Proposal which would result in an
April State Department of Finance letter. That money would
be available for implementation of the training
recommendations due from the Commission on Correctional
Peace Officer Standards and Training. It may be unclear
how much additional training $5 million would provide.
The basic training course for regular peace officers, such
as local city police and sheriff's deputies, is 664 hours
of training (with minimal training in custodial duties;
those officers assigned to jail generally complete the 80
hour training course approved by Standards and Training for
Corrections). The Commission of Peace Officer Standards
and Training sets standards for the 664 hour basic peace
officer training course.
Penal Code section 830.1(c) provides for deputy sheriffs in
Los Angeles County who are "employed to perform duties
exclusively or initially relating to custodial assignments
with responsibilities for maintaining the operations of
county custodial facilities, including the custody, care,
supervision, security, movement, and transportation of
inmates . . ." are allowed to complete only part of the
basic peace officer training and serve in the county jail
and then complete the remainder of the basic peace officer
training when assigned to regular duty outside of the
county jail system. When that subdivision was added, it
was anticipated that the initial " . . .training mandated
would be the existing 64-hour course given all sheriff's
deputies in arrest and firearms plus, within 120 days of
employment, an 80-hour course required by the Department of
Corrections for custodial personnel." (Conference
Committee analysis of AB 574 - Chapter 950, Statutes of
1996) It was also anticipated that those Los Angeles
County Sheriff's deputies who took that "abbreviated"
training would be working with fully trained deputies in
the jail facilities.
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In addition, Penal Code sections 831 and 831.5 create
public officers who are not peace officers but who may be
assigned to city and county jails, as specified. These
officers are required to complete the initial peace officer
40 hours - plus 24 hours for those authorized to use
firearms. And when there are at lease 20 custodial
officers on duty, one regular peace officer must be on duty
to supervise those custodial officers.
Prior Legislation
AB 271 (Villaraigosa) - Chapter 762, Statutes of 1998:
Senate Floor Vote: 38-0.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 1999-2000 2000-01
2001-02 Fund
Cadet and supervisor -- Unknown costs*
-- General
Training
*The Governor's Budget includes $2,1000 for increased CYA
cadet training.
SUPPORT : (Verified 1/16/00) (Unable to reverify at time
of this writing)
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Public Defenders Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states:
"Corrections has the highest number of adverse actions
proportional to any other department in the state. It
also has the lowest training for any peace officer
group in the state. Additional training will mean
fewer mistakes and more efficiency. Additional
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training will also help reduce litigation and the cost
associated with lawsuit from inmates and other
interest groups. With the increase in prisons, a huge
cadre of new officers have been brought on line but
with substandard training. While a large investment
in physical plant occurred, none has been forthcoming
to improve the human resources of CDC. This bill
seeks to remedy this inequity."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aanestad, Ackerman, Alquist, Aroner, Ashburn,
Baldwin, Bates, Battin, Baugh, Bock, Brewer, Briggs,
Calderon, Campbell, Cardenas, Cardoza, Cedillo, Corbett,
Correa, Cox, Cunneen, Davis, Dickerson, Ducheny, Dutra,
Firebaugh, Florez, Gallegos, Granlund, Havice, Honda,
House, Jackson, Kaloogian, Keeley, Knox, Kuehl, Leach,
Lempert, Leonard, Longville, Lowenthal, Machado, Maddox,
Maldonado, Margett, Mazzoni, McClintock, Migden, Nakano,
Olberg, Oller, Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Papan,
Pescetti, Reyes, Romero, Runner, Scott, Shelley,
Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin, Thompson, Thomson,
Torlakson, Villaraigosa, Vincent, Washington, Wayne,
Wesson, Wiggins, Wildman, Wright, Zettel, Hertzberg
RJG:cm 8/31/00 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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